LINE: Contour Drawings

Dylan

Jennifer

Last night, class began with a discussion on Contour Line Drawing (refer to Line tab above). Initially, we focused on creating fluid, confident lines avoiding the tendency to "hedge" the line. Hedging is a back and forth motion that makes the line have a slight zig-zag or "hairy" appearance. Proportions are NOT a concern at this point in drawing. After completing a couple of studies with even, smooth line quality, we added "accenting"; areas in the line that swell (thick and thin or light and dark). Accents may address changes in direction or structure of the line, changes in value, light, color, texture and changes in weight.

INTRODUCTIONS: Syllabus and Materials

At our first meeting of the semester, we discussed the syllabus and required materials. Downloads of the syllabus with included materials list are available under our class section number in the Schedule of Classes and on the Smith Art 7A Canvas page. Next week we begin discussing Line (ex. above). I suggest searching through the archives on this blog to acquaint yourself with the upcoming topics. Students will need 18 x 24 in. drawing pad, spiral bound sketchbook, pencils and pens.

LINE: Contour

Thursday the class made contour line drawings using graphite pencils as well as ink pens. Contour lines describe the interior and exterior volumes of a form. "Accenting" the line with darker, lighter and broken areas will increase the sense of volume. Accents may address changes in structure, color, texture, light and weight.

Georgia Bourdens

Georgia's drawing of hammers skillfully illustrates all of the qualities mentioned above. The lines are fluid, confident and exhibit a "sense of touch" or 3-dimensionality. In addition, the placement and direction of the hammers has created a sense of falling as well as a spiraling rhythm.

Luke Mello

Luke's drawing exhibits boldly accented areas and confident line quality as well. Furthermore, there is a pleasing balance in the placement of the objects.

Harrison Nixon

Harrison's drawing exhibits a very dynamic and interesting compositional arrangement. The large, overlapping forms are complemented with large open negative areas whereas the small, doodle-like elements on the right side are closer. This arrangement suggests depth with the larger forms advancing and the smaller forms receding.

LINE: Contour

Erin Deacon

Last night we began our explorations in LINE. The key points to remember is 1. Line is like a path that leads the "eye" around and through a composition. 2. Dark lines advance while lighter lines recede. The techniques employed were contour, cross-contour and scribble. Contour Line drawings address interior and exterior volumes as seen in the clamp, planes and spring in the drawing above. Notice how these unite to balance the composition in a triangular rotation. The quickly sketched areas strengthening the balance by a establishing a repeated motif throughout the composition. More info on Line is in the tab above. The techniques of cross-contour and scribble (not seen in the drawing above) will be re-addressed in class next week.

LINE: Contour Lines and the Sense of Touch

Naomi Lehr

For our first drawing session, we discussed the characteristics of line. The most important things to remember about line are: 1. It is the most personal of the five are elements in that it is similar to an artists signature. 2. Line is like a path that leads the eye around and through a composition. 3. Dark lines advance while lighter lines recede. And lastly, "accents" (darker areas) may be used to describe changes in weight, light, texture, color, structure and location in space.

The main thing we focused on last night was the development of clean, fluid and confident line quality. The drawing above skillfully illustrates all of these points. Notice the way the open center of the composition is balanced by more resolved or detailed renderings of the leaves on the left and right sides. In addition, the "accents" add volume to the contours by capturing the curling and rolling motion of the leaves' form.

HOMEWORK #1 Contour Line

In your sketchbook, using a soft, graphite pencil (3B or higher), make a series of (10) contour line drawings of complex objects. This means objects with many parts or pieces (tools, bicycle parts, plants, car, etc.). Draw one per page. Employ line weight variations and accenting. REMEMBER: There should be no shading!

Contour Line Drawing

Last night was our first drawing session exploring part one of Line. Students were introduced to the concept of Contour Line Drawing. Contour lines define interior as well as exterior volumes. The objective of last night's project was to begin to develop fluid, confident line quality with "accenting" that is complementary to the volumes of the forms.

Grantt Miksis

Iris Lopez

The two drawings above exhibit fluid, confident lines with "accents" addressing areas where 1. the line advances (dark lines advance, light lines recede), 2. the light conditions change (shadows) 3. changes in direction of the line (planar shift or overlapping forms) and 4. changes in color, value or the texture of the surface.

HOMEWORK #1 Contour Studies

In your sketchbook using 3B graphite pencil or ink, make a series of (10) contour studies; one per page. Choose complex objects like tools, clothing draped over a chair, machined parts, house plants, etc. Try to accent your line quality by employing thicker and thinner, lighter and darker variations as well as "breaks" in the line (lost and found technique). Note the application of the lost and found technique on the interior volumes of the objects above where the side planes meet the top planes. REMEMBER: No Shading!

TUES. 8.30 LINE: Contour

Govinda Taskey

Lilly Valencia

Class began with a review of Gesture Drawing.  These drawings were executed by making three drawings of the same object (shoe) one on top of the other. They illustrate the cage-like quality in Gesture that creates a structural sense of volume. After a few Gesture warm-ups, we moved onto Contour Line Drawing.

Ashley Hurd

Oscar Mendoza

 Contour Line Drawing is a slow, single, incisive line that defines interior volumes as well as exterior volumes.  This is not "outlining".  Outlines only define the outside edges of objects (exterior volumes). Contour lines may define changes in structure, weight, color and texture.  Note in Ashley's drawing above how she draws lighter lines to identify shadows and highlights especially on the curled, butter knives. She also makes great use of larger and smaller objects as well as swooping and dynamic angles.
Oscar's drawing also balances larger and smaller shapes while exhibiting strong use of accenting his line work.

Tues. and Wed. Jan 25 & 26 LINE: Contour

From Gesture we move to Contour Studies.  After the slide discussion, students made contour studies of tools and various hardware-like objects.  Like Gesture, Contour develops eye - hand coordination but it is the exact opposite of Gesture.  Contour is a slow, single , incisive line that defines interior volumes as well as exterior volumes.  Gesture too addresses these volumes but it is quick, spontaneous and uses multiple lines. 
Hollister Nadeau's (above) drawing exhibits strong, confident contours with the inclusion of textural elements that add character and ornamentation to the image.  Carlos Gutierrez's (below) drawing is a densely, layered space of compositions stacked on one another.  His contours are also very confidently drawn emphasizing the depth and dimensionality of the tools by accenting.  In other words, he has used bolder, darker lines for the parts that advance towards us and lighter lines for the parts that recede away from us.

 Ashley Washburn's drawing exhibits very good accenting but the best part of the drawing is her layering and transparency effects. I'm addressing the hammer on the left.  The success of this effect lies in the line technique itself complemented by her accenting and changing mediums.  Brennon Hedman's drawing (below) is a beautifully composed image revealing the power of scale change and overlapping forms.  Even with the packed in objects, the image remains clear and the line is confident and strong.

8/27 Friday Class: Gesture and Contour Drawing

Friday's class began its investigations into Line with Gesture Drawings in the morning and Contour Drawings in the afternoon. For a full description of these two modes of drawing see the posts from 8/18 and 8/23.

This Gesture Drawing by Jasmine Gonzales exhibits great attention to the positive as well as negative areas of the composition. Note how the dark values recede setting up the situation for the light values within the objects to advance and establish the foreground.

Matthias Linford's Gesture Drawing also exhibits a good balance between positive and negative areas.  In addition, his use of cross-contour lines moving vertically as well as horizontally create a strong sense of volume around the gourds.

William Verdoni's drawing is an example of the Contour technique.  Note the attention to details and textural elements combined with the accented line.

Theresa Vernon's drawing is also a study in Contour.  Her line style is bold and confident. Note the repetition of the hand plane from various angles and positions.  This aids in moving the viewer's eye around the composition. 
In conclusion, the thing to notice in all the examples above is that Gesture drawings are quick and spontaneous while Contour drawings are slow and deliberate.  Both are equally important in building strong eye-hand coordination.

1/20 CONTOUR LINE DRAWING

Wednesday evening began with some review of continuous line and gesture drawing.  From there we discussed contour line and made drawings of tools.  Contour Line is a single, incisive line that defines the exterior volumes (outlines) as well as interior volumes of a form.  Contour line drawings should be three dimensionally volumetric and have a sense of "touch".  In other words, feel like you could grab the object.  In addition, contour lines can also identify changes in color, texture and value (weight or light).  Contour line drawings should isolate the parts working towards completing the whole.   Contour lines may be uniform in width and value (ex. drill) or for a more dimensional appearance the line may be accented with dark and light variations as well as "swelling" the line with thick and thin variations ( student drawing by Catherine Hill).

This drawing by Stephanie Mezzanatto (student) has employed accenting for a more volumetric rendering but has also used light contours to identify value variations in the surface of the objects.

Emile Rosewater (student) has used an ink pen to render his objects.  Emile's drawing bridges the two approaches to contour drawing by using a thick, uniform line to render many of the exterior volumes and a thinner, broken line to identify the interior volumes.